For a long time, I understood the 10 Commandments as a set of easily understood rules that a professing "follower of Christ" should live their life by, and were not commands that difficult to figure out: "Love the Lord with all your heart, No graven images", etc. But getting older, and viewing the Bible Hebraicly, I began seeing the 10 Commandments – as well as rest of the Word – in a more profound manner. I see that my early understanding of the Bible was only in basic over–generalities and cliché "pastorisms ". Though at times I would feel just a little insecure about these pastorisms, I still blindly held onto them as absolute truth. Today, I want to talk about Exodus 20:7.
“You shall
not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him
guiltless who takes his name in vain."
~ ESV
I'm
sure like me, you understood this to mean that we are not to use God's name in
a meaningless way, or in conjunction with profanity. I can see why this sort of rule would be made,
stub your toe on the edge of a coffee table just once and tell me if you don't
feel the urge to call upon His name. A look
at this verse led me to wonder if there weren't an alternative intention. The words that stuck out to me the most were
"take", "name", and "vain". For example, vain or vanity, are not only
used to emphasize the meaninglessness or futility of an action on or towards an
object, but also to do something to one's appearance that garners attention to
oneself; self-exaltation.
With
this in mind, I wondered if it were possible this commandment was telling us
not to take on some aspect of God, so as to appear more righteous or godly. Thus rendering our "good" behavior
meaningless, or worse profaning God's holiness through our actions.
To
find out, I first looked at the original Hebrew word used. Strong's Hebrew 5375 renders the root word "na–sa"
as to lift up, carry, take. Strong's
does a good job of getting a person close to a general idea of the usage of a
word, but to get a proper understanding of what my specific word was intending
to say, I needed to see all its occurrences.
My word "tis·sa" was used 25 times and gave the imagery of
gaining something (material or immaterial), that could be carried or displayed.
Leviticus
19:17
“You shall
not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your
neighbor, lest you incur sin
because of him." ~ ESV
"Thou
shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy
neighbour, and not suffer sin
upon him." ~ KJV
Exodus
23:1
"You
shall not spread a false
report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness." ~ ESV
"Thou
shalt not raise a false
report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. ." ~ KJV
Numbers
11:17
"…they
shall bear the burden of the
people with you, so that you may not bear
it yourself alone. ." ~ ESV
"…they
shall bear the burden of the
people with thee, that thou bear
it not thyself alone. ." ~ KJV
1 Kings
5:9
"…And
I will have them broken up there, and you shall receive it. And you shall meet my wishes by providing food
for my household.” ~ ESV
"…and
will cause them to be discharged there, and thou shalt receive them: and thou shalt accomplish my desire, in giving
food for my household." ~ KJV
Proverbs
9:12
"…If
you are wise, you are wise for yourself; if you scoff, you alone will bear it." ~ ESV
"…If
thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone
shalt bear it." ~ KJV
Ezekiel
12:6
"…In
their sight you shall lift the
baggage upon your shoulder and carry it out at dusk… " ~ ESV
"…In
their sight shalt thou bear it
upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight…" ~ KJV
One
of the major problems with this word "na – sa" is that it is quite
versatile and can have many different applications. The idea of "take" is used in a way
where the object (sin, in the case of Leviticus 19:17) can be put onto
something or someone, can actively be multiplied, and spread out (Exodus 23:1),
received openly (1 Kings 5:9), has weight (Ezekiel 12:6), but the weightiness
is often an abstract burden; like the "weight of an idea",
"burden of proof", or even the "weight of sin" (Leviticus
19:17, Numbers 11:17, Proverbs 9:12). In
a sense, this "bearing" of the object has an effect on you, it
changes you, both inside and out, and is seemingly on display for everyone to
see.
Next,
I wanted to look at vanity; Strong's Hebrew 7723 "la – shav – ve"
which means emptiness, vanity, vain, and is used about 11 times. Strong's tries to explain further by stating,
"… evil (as
destructive), literally (ruin) or morally (especially guile); figuratively
idolatry (as false, subjective), uselessness (as deceptive, objective; also
adverbially, in vain) -- false(-ly), lie."
Deuteronomy
5:20
‘And you
shall not bear false witness
against your neighbor." ~ ESV
"Neither
shalt thou bear false witness
against thy neighbour." ~ KJV
Job 35:13
"Surely
God does not hear an empty
cry, nor does the Almighty regard it."
~ ESV
"
Surely God will
not hear vanity, neither will
the Almighty regard it." ~ KJV
Jeremiah
18:15
"But
my people have forgotten me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the
ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway…" ~ ESV
"Because
my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways
from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up…" ~ KJV
Psalms
24:4
"He
who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear
deceitfully." ~ ESV
"He
that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." ~ KJV
it
is interesting to note that "la – shav – ve", translated to
"vanity" (Exodus 20:7), is the very same word translated to
"false witness" (Exodus 20:16, Exodus 23:1) in the commands following
it. It is seemingly an empty action,
futile, not derived from the heart, or towards something that is itself nothing
at all.
What
we seem to have so far is all a command telling us that the object is not
something that you bear or do in emptiness.
When you receive this object, you are actually doing something
meaningful, it is not for show or a lie.
You are not putting on a display like a peacock, but carrying something
of value.
The
question for me became, what is this object? Is it really God's Name, or is it
something else? Most assume that Exodus
20:7 is stating that "God" is His Name, when in fact it is a
position. Many words are translated
vaguely to "God", which are words that describe His many different
characteristics. One such word is Elohim
(el – oh – heem), which describes Him as our ultimate power and authority. Another is Immanuel; "God with us".
I
began to wonder what the commandment may mean by "God's Name", since
the Hebrew word "shem" was simply just "name".
On
Mount Sinai, God declared a covenant with a group of people who willingly
accepted an agreement with Him to abide by a set of laws, statutes, and
ordinances that went along with this marriage covenant.
Deuteronomy
4:13
"And
he declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even ten
commandments; and He wrote them on two tables of stone."
Exodus 19:5
– 8
"Now
therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be
my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you
shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation…So Moses came and called
the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had
commanded him. All the people answered together and said, 'All that the LORD
has spoken we will do.'"
God
wanted these commandments to be so deeply ingrained into His people that they
would be the very actions and virtues displayed.
Proverbs
3:1 – 4
"My
son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments...write
them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in
the sight of God and man..."
Proverbs
7:1-3
"My
son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; keep my
commandments and live, keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; bind them on
your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart..."
The
law would be as if it were a mark upon the hand, or a seal upon the forehead. God's people would become so changed by this
sealing of the law in their heart and mind that their mourning at the sight of
evil, and their deeds would be like a mark distinguishing them from other
peoples.
Deuteronomy
6:8
"Tie
them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads."
Isaiah
8:16, 20
"Bind
up the testimony; seal the law among my disciples…To the law and to the
testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they
have no dawn."
Ezekiel
9:4
"'Pass
throughout the city of Jerusalem,' the LORD said to him, 'and put a mark on the
foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the detestable practices
committed in it.'"
Revelation
7:3
“Do not
harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of
our God on their foreheads.”
Even
Abraham was set as an example for those who followed in his steps of how
obedience through faith was like a "seal of righteousness".
Romans
4:11–13
"He
received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by
faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father
of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be
counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are
not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our
father Abraham had before he was circumcised.."
Unfortunately,
while Abraham and many others were able to see God through the spirit of the
law, those who willingly accepted this covenant, broke it. They abandoned their covenant to be the image
of God among the nations, thereby tainting His very name. He set out to create a new covenant, changing
the heart of His people by His own hand through His Spirit, again making Himself
known among the nations by way of a people displaying the seal of God through obedience
in faith.
Ezekiel 36:23,
25
"And
I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among
the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know
that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my
holiness before their eyes. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall
be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I
will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And
I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes."
Jeremiah
31:33
"But
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those
days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on
their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no
longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know
the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,
declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their
sin no more.”
Romans 8:3a,
4a, 7.
"For
God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his
own Son… in
order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who
walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit… For the mind that is
set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed,
it cannot."
2
Corinthians 5:21
"God
made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God."
2 Timothy
2:19
"But
God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: 'The Lord knows those who are
his,' and, 'Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.'”
I
began to realize that those who have been forgiven, whose hearts have been
changed and infused with the Spirit of God, submitting themselves to God's law
written on their heart, becoming His righteousness, would be sealed with His
Name because their submission made them known as God's own people. God equated His name with the righteous
character produced from obedience in faith, to the law written on the heart. His Commandments were the characterized
attributes of God Himself.
It
seems that Exodus 20:7 is telling us that we are not to bear God's character in
false witness, or as a front. That we
are not to do things unrighteous in the sight of others and proclaim them to be
righteous acts, or so ordered by God.
Doing so not only makes us hypocritical, but profanes Him among those
observing these actions.
One
very obvious example would be the Crusades, Spanish Inquisition, or any other
murders "in the name of God".
These people elevated themselves to being God's voice on earth, and
committed several atrocities under the guise of godliness, thereby doing a great
disservice to the character of God for centuries to come. More internally, would be those of the
Pharisees and Sadducees whom Christ continually set before us as an example of
how not to behave. Continually appearing
godly before the masses, yet according to Christ, being a "brood of
vipers" making their converts "even more the sons of hell" then their
converters.
Ask
any atheist what their biggest problem is with "Christianity", and
the majority of the responses will be, "how can I follow a God who would
condone murder in his name?" It
becomes very clear why God said that He would not hold anyone guiltless who
would do evil things using God as the source of those deeds, or those who would
put on a form of godliness in order for self exaltation or personal gain.
Now
you must ask yourself, have you called yourself a follower of Christ yet bore His
image in emptiness? Has your life shown
God's name or character positively, or have you portrayed all good God has done
as meaningless?
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